Lisandro Martinez had some choice words for Paul Scholes after the Manchester United legend was critical of his performances this week.
Unfortunately for the defender, he won’t be able to respond to such comments on the pitch anytime soon after sustaining a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury against Crystal Palace at the beginning of February.
Prior to his latest setback, though, Martinez had actually been in pretty fine form, all things considered. The side’s performances – as a whole – were nowhere near the standard required, but he looked to be back the best version of himself following unrelenting fitness issues over the last year and a half.
The Argentine’s stellar efforts were further backed up by his statistics in comparison to his centre-half counterparts; heading into the Palace clash, Martinez ranked top of the list in the Premier League for passes into the final third (87), tackles and interceptions (68), ball recoveries (76), progressive carries (23) and passes into the box (16) – as well as a host of other notable feats.
Going into today’s game, Lisandro Martinez ranked first amongst #MUFC CBs in the Premier League this season for…
🥇 Progressive distance (6,739)
🥇 Passes attempted (1,274)
🥇 Passes completed (1,141)
🥇 Progressive passes (112)
🥇 Passes into the final third (87)
🥇 Tackles +… pic.twitter.com/d0ClDilck0— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) February 2, 2025
Martinez hits back at Scholes’ criticism
Yet, such showings haven’t been enough to win over the ever-hard-to-please Scholes, who said on the latest release of The Overlap Fan Debate: “Even when he (Martinez) is fit, he’s not good enough to win the Premier League with.”
Made aware of his remark on social media, the World Cup winner responded to an Instagram post saying: “This jinx guy is really hurting….you put him in Argentina, and he wouldn’t survive.”
Yikes.
In fairness, it wasn’t only Martinez who came under the microscope by Scholes, as he also added: “I haven’t liked what I’ve seen so far [from Leny Yoro]. Did you see the Southampton game? But he’s one centre-half I would keep, but I’d bring in another two.
“I’m talking about getting a team to win the Premier League. Are you going to win the Premier League with [Matthijs] de Ligt and Yoro?”
Very harsh from Scholes; he’s a legend of the club but that doesn’t mean he’s always right. I think he’s conflating fluctuating form and team underperformance (in part, due to learning a completely new system) with the suitability of each player for the Premier League. And Yoro is still too new and young to be reaching that sort of conclusion.
Maybe Scholesy should take a vacation, find his “happy place” or boost his blood sugar before volunteering more commentary.